High winds potentially reaching 60 MPH, could cause power outages and damage

by Bryn Caswell

Thursday, March 14th 2019

(WKEF-WRGT)

DAYTON, Ohio (WKEF/WRGT) - Winds have the potential to reach 60 MPH Thursday evening, which is a mile a minute if traveling on the freeway. The National Weather Service in Wilmington has been tracking the storm for days, and said these warnings are nothing to take lightly this time of year.

“The threat is right now and you need to take your precaution right now,” Head Meteorologist at the National Weather Service Wilmington Ken Haydu said.

The quickly changing high and low pressures are creating perfect tornado conditions.

“We are going to have some serve thunderstorms and a couple of tornadoes,” Haydu said. “One of them could be a big one.”

Dayton Power & Light already has staff in place ready to repair area power outages.

“We are full staffed around the clock to handle the outages that may occur,” DP&L Communications Director Mary Ann Cabel said. “So, our lineman can get out there as well as fully staffed in dispatch to handle the calls that are coming in.”

The ground is saturated from weeks of prior heavy rainfall. This makes trees and power lines susceptible to uproot and crash.

“If they take down a line consider that energized so you want to make sure you stay away,” Cabel said.

Stay inside and take cover in you hear sirens.

“70 percent of all significant tornadoes occur in a tornado watch,” Haydu added. “So, we got to take this watch very seriously."